• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Astronaut explains why no one has visited the moon for 50 years

Home> News

Published 15:24 15 Dec 2022 GMT

Astronaut explains why no one has visited the moon for 50 years

An astronaut has explained why no one has stepped foot on the moon in 50 years, with Nasa hoping some will return as early as 2025.

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

The last person to step foot on the moon was exactly 50 years ago this month, with Nasa's former Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan taking the famous steps.

That was just three years after Neil Armstrong made history by becoming the first person to step foot on the moon in 1969.

And back then, many expected people taking the steps would become more common as technology continued to advance.

But that hasn't been the case, with a now massive five-decade gap between now and the last person to walk on the moon.

NASA has promised that we will soon see US astronauts back on the moon in the coming years, possibly as early as 2025.

Advert

But why has it taken this long?

Pictures like this might soon become a reality.
NASA Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo

Well, a former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, has said it is not because of technology or science limitations as many would have expected.

The man who ran the agency during the Trump administration told reporters in 2018: "If it wasn't for the political risk, we would be on the moon right now.

Advert

"In fact, we would probably be on Mars.

"It was the political risks that prevented it from happening."

"The program took too long and it costs too much money."

In the past, astronauts who visited the moon would collect rocks, take photos and perform experiments, amongst other duties.

Advert

But the Apollo program did not give them enough time to establish a lasting human presence on the moon.

However, that seems to be changing with NASA's Orion lunar spacecraft program, where it is hoped humans will be living on the moon for a prolonged period of time.

Nasa hope the Orion spacecraft is the first step to get astronauts back on the moon.
UPI / Alamy Stock Photo

Speaking to BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg back in November following the launch of the Artemis rocket, NASA chief Howard Hu said humans could be living on the moon in the next decade.

Advert

He said: "Certainly this decade, we are going to have people living for durations.

"Depending on how long we will be on the surface, they'll be living, they'll have habitats, they'll have rovers on the ground.

"That's what we are also working on at NASA, so not only are we able to work in delivering people to the moon, but getting people on the surface of the moon, they still have to have infrastructure.

"Ultimately, it is more than living, it is really about science and geological aspects of it."

Advert

He continued: "It's the first step we're taking to long-term deep space exploration, for not just the United States but for the world.

"I mean, we are going back to the Moon, we're working towards a sustainable programme and this is the vehicle that will carry the people that will land us back on the Moon again."

Featured Image Credit: Archive Image / Alamy Stock Photo/Art Directors & TRIP / Alamy Stock Photo

Topics: NASA, Space

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
9 hours ago
  • Getty Images/agrobacter
    8 hours ago

    Scientists discover breakthrough 'cure' for hair loss which takes just 20 days

    If testing is successful, it could be sold as a skincare product

    News
  • CNN
    8 hours ago

    Obama praised for 'smooth' way he dealt with heckler at rally

    The former president was supporting a Democratic hopeful at a rally

    News
  • Getty Images/Scott Olson/Getty Images/Andrew Harnik
    9 hours ago

    Eye-opening poll reveals whether Americans prefer Obama or Trump as president

    The insight comes ahead of gubernatorial elections on Tuesday

    News
  • Getty Images/Andrew Harnik
    9 hours ago

    People extremely concerned after Trump blasts Seth Meyers for being 'illegally anti-Trump'

    Seth Meyers ridiculed President Donald Trump's tour of Asia, and it's fair to say the Republican wasn't best pleased

    News
  • Astronaut explains the real reason why no human has been to the moon in the last 50 years
  • NASA crew shares major update on historic mission to orbit the Moon for first time in 50 years
  • Forgotten astronaut of 1969 moon landing shares bizarre way they were treated upon returning to Earth
  • Astronauts reveal why the 'most terrifying thing an astronaut can ever do' is coming back to Earth